The City of Falling Angels (Abridged)

by John Berendt Narrated by John Berendt

Overview

It was seven years ago that Midnight in the Garden of Good and Evil achieved a record-breaking four-year run on the New York Times bestseller list. John Berendt's inimitable brand of nonfiction brought the dark mystique of Savannah so startlingly to life for millions of people that tourism to Savannah increased by 46%. It is Berendt and only Berendt who can capture Venice-a city of masks, a city of riddles, where the narrow, meandering passageways form a giant maze, confounding all who have not grown up wandering into its depths. Venice, a city steeped in a thousand years of history, art and architecture, teeters in precarious balance between endurance and decay. Its architectural treasures crumble-foundations shift, marble ornaments fall-even as efforts to preserve them are underway.

THE CITY OF FALLING ANGELS opens on the evening of January 29, 1996, when a dramatic fire destroys the historic Fenice opera house. The loss of the Fenice, where five of Verdi's operas premiered, is a catastrophe for Venetians. Arriving in Venice three days after the fire, Berendt becomes a kind of detective-inquiring into the nature of life in this remarkable museum-city- while gradually revealing the truth about the fire. In the course of his investigations, Berendt introduces us to a rich cast of characters: a prominent Venetian poet whose shocking `suicide' prompts his skeptical friends to pursue a murder suspect on their own; the First Family of American expatriates who lose possession of the family palace after four generations of ownership; an organization of high-society, party-going Americans who raise money to preserve the art and architecture of Venice, while quarreling in public among themselves, questioning each other's motives and drawing startled Venetians into the fray; a contemporary Venetian surrealist painter and outrageous provocateur; the master glassblower of Venice; and numerous others-stool-pigeons, scapegoats, hustlers, sleepwalkers, believers in Martians, the Plant Man, the Rat Man, and Henry James.

Berendt tells a tale full of atmosphere and surprise as the stories build, one after the other, ultimately coming together to reveal a world as finely drawn as a still-life painting. The fire and its aftermath serve as a leitmotif that runs throughout, adding to the elements of chaos, corruption and crime, and contributing to the ever-mounting suspense of this brilliant audiobook.

Bonus feature includes an exclusive interview with the author!

From the Compact Disc edition.

Editorial Reviews

FEB/MAR 06 - AudioFile

Magical, exasperating, sometimes mystifying, but finally enormously awe-inspiring, Venice, Italy--the city itself--becomes the vibrant and vital main character as Holter Graham, in an exceptionally fine reading, presents the account of a devastating conflagration of the Fenice Opera House and the civil investigations that followed. (The irony of such an event in a city noted for its waterways is inescapable.) Further richness includes insightful descriptions of a variety of contemporary characters inhabiting this ancient and sometimes otherworldly city. Poetry lovers will appreciate the significant, sad, and sometimes tragic accounts of Ezra Pound's poetic legacy. Ultimately, Graham's fine reading, along with Berendt's valuable information and penetrating observations, results in a captivating audio presentation. L.C. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine

FEB/MAR 06 - AudioFile

Magical, exasperating, sometimes mystifying, but finally enormously awe-inspiring, Venice, Italy--the city itself--becomes the vibrant and vital main character as Holter Graham, in an exceptionally fine reading, presents the account of a devastating conflagration of the Fenice Opera House and the civil investigations that followed. (The irony of such an event in a city noted for its waterways is inescapable.) Further richness includes insightful descriptions of a variety of contemporary characters inhabiting this ancient and sometimes otherworldly city. Poetry lovers will appreciate the significant, sad, and sometimes tragic accounts of Ezra Pound's poetic legacy. Ultimately, Graham's fine reading, along with Berendt's valuable information and penetrating observations, results in a captivating audio presentation. L.C. © AudioFile 2006, Portland, Maine

Product Details

BN ID:	2940172191039
Publisher:	Penguin Random House
Publication date:	09/27/2005
Edition description:	Abridged
Sales rank:	1,063,844

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